Question on fan strength pulling through carbon scrubber

Hey everyone from RIU,
Ima long time reader first time poster.
I am considering doing my first grow soon, my plans are to have a cabinet DWC CFL grow of AK 48 with the cabinet being roughly 5ft tall by 2.5-3ft wide by 2-3ft deep and growing one maybe two plants. I've been doing a lot of research and believe I have most everything figured out nicely but im a little unsure about my ventilation. I plan to make my own carbon scrubber but im unsure about how strong a fan I will need to pull air through it. I’ve read some conflicting information about whether you can place computer fans on both ends of the carbon scrubber and have it work successfully. Now mainly im looking for a cheap solution for this and computer fans would be right up that alley I just don’t want to drop the money a squirrel cage fan or anything fairly pricey like that since this is just a small grow. So please any help would be greatly appreciated on how strong the fan should be (CFM) or any recommendations on a set up that would work nicely for my small set up? Thanks Again everyone!
 

growinman

Well-Known Member
.........imo, you really need an inline fan, if even a 4" ........with a speedster, preferably. I dont believe a computer fan will do you justice pulling through a diy scrubber......
One thing, with the cfl's, you may not have to move very much air---surely not as much as if hps..........
So I guess I really cant say for sure because I've never grown with the cfl's and my experience has been that the more heat the more smell.........

Anyone else??

GL!
gman
 

OrganicOzarks

Active Member
I have seen the Stanley Blower from Walmart used a lot. It has 3 speeds as well. I think it is about $45. With some mods it seems cheap and pretty effective. If you can do it right from the begining I would just buy an inline fan. 4" would be enough for cfl's. Somewhere around 250 cfm. Also go for the speed regulator for another $20 or so. As far as the filter goes I am just going to start buying them. I have been making my own, but when I get quite a few plants in flower it still smells like you just smoked in parts of my structure. So I am thinking that $100 or so for a filter that will last 6 months or more will be my next step.
 
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